Back Story: David Fritts, world-class pumpkin grower

David Fritts and his mother Frances at the family’s pumpkin market.

October 18, 2012 by Colin Moore

"The reason why Eufaula is my favorite tournament lake is because..." I never do find out why David Fritts thinks so highly of Lake Eufaula, as his cell phone rings for the umpteenth time and his attention is diverted. It's another customer, with money to spend. Fritts is talking business again.
The typical angler's thoughts might turn to autumn fishing and the big transition of deep-water fish back toward the shallows, which is what's on my mind as we crank a creek ledge on Oklahoma's Grand Lake. We're trying out the reborn BB1 baitcaster that Lew's introduced at the 2012 ICAST show, but Fritts' focus wavers momentarily from bass and tackle. This time of year, he's in to pumpkins - big time. Back home in the Carolina Piedmont, the Fritts family is known far and wide for the quality and quantity of the pumpkins it grows: large ones and little ones in every shape, texture and hue. Pumpkins seemingly bubble out of the ground on the Fritts farm near Lexington, N.C., and most of them - upwards of 75,000 per year - will wind up on somebody's stoop at Halloween or in somebody's home at Thanksgiving as a decoration or in a pie.
The 2012 harvest is in, and as he has done for the last 10 years or so, David Fritts will spend most of October dealing with buyers either in person or over the phone. When Fritts isn't available - such as when he's fishing a tournament - his nephew, Phillip Sink, takes care of things.
"I started out just growing pumpkins just for the heck of it, but it gradually grew to the point where now we plant about 125 acres with pumpkins," says Fritts in between phone calls from customers. "The business seems to get a little larger every year and we employ a good many local school kids to help us get them in. It's gotten to be a pretty big deal."
No surprise, Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins - the 5- to 15-pound size that have become a hallmark of Halloween - are the biggest sellers for David and his father, Tom, who operate David and Tom Fritts Produce Market in the community of Welcome, N.C. Besides Jack-o-Lanterns, they grow a few table-grade heirlooms, such as Seminole and Texas Sweet Potato. But the pumpkins that really get David fired up are the exotics that he sells for "display."
"Orange is the main color everybody thinks about, but pumpkins come in all sorts of colors," adds Fritts. "We grow whites and pinks, blues and grays, red and black, red with black and green, white with orange stripes and so forth. These are some really good-looking pumpkins; they look like they're made of porcelain. It's like the colors were painted on. Most of these types of pumpkins are table pieces for Thanksgiving. The other day we sold a green pumpkin with orange polka dots for $75. Some people don't want the same thing as everybody else has got."
Planting time begins in May and might extend into late July, depending on the variety of pumpkin and how long it takes to mature before the October harvest. Fritts plants seeds about 3 or 4 feet apart in rows that are 6 to 8 feet apart, so the vines have plenty of elbow room to ramble. The critical part of the growing season is after the flowers are fertilized by flying insects, and set fruit.
The bulk of North Carolina's pumpkin crop is grown in the verdant mountain valleys of the Appalachians, and summers can be harsh in the Piedmont where Fritts' pumpkin patch is. He relies on an irrigation system to get his crop through the hottest and driest days of summer. But too much rain is also a threat, and even a few days of heavy fog can promote fruit rot. Either way, flowers or fruit can drop off the vine. If that happens, he has to start all over - if there's time enough.
Despite the heat and drought that troubled much of the nation, this year's crop was good: Cinderellas, Fairytales, Valencianos and all the rest reached their full maturity at about the same time and kept the Fritts family busy cutting pumpkins from their vines and readying them for market. Beside the bulk buyers, David's mother Frances sells about $1,500 worth of pumpkins on a good weekday at their market, and from $5,000 to $7,000 worth on a fall weekend.
Fritts has won just about every major angling accolade possible, including the Bassmaster Classic in 1993 and the Forrest Wood Cup in 1997. He's had his share of fame and glory and it takes a lot to impress him, but a patch full of ripening pumpkins will do it.
"It's not something where you make a lot of money," says Fritts of his pumpkin farm. "It's more about seeing a small vine come out of the ground and watching it turn into something beautiful. It gives me a lot of satisfaction. That's the only way I can explain it."

What Went Down at Kentucky Lake

Save for the contrarian crankbaits used by the eventual winning team from the University of Arkansas-Fayettville, it seemed that the vast majority of teams in the FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake relied on umbrella rigs.
Here’s a rundown on what the top 10 used to catch most of their bass. Each of these teams is now pre-qualified for the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship. READ MORE »

March 22, 2015

Arkansas Anglers Win College Open

Consistency was the key for the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville here in the FLW College Fishing Kentucky Lake Open as Zachary Pickle and Drew Porto won the event with a two-day total of 43 pounds, 12 ounces. READ MORE »

March 21, 2015

Top Patterns from Kentucky Lake

Thanks to nearly identical bags from days one and two, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville netted the title in the FLW College Fishing Open held on Kentucky Lake. While the top prize of a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard was at stake, teams were also battling to make the top 10 in order to punch their ticket for the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship. READ MORE »

March 21, 2015

College Open Day 2 Midday Update

The sun is shining, the weather is warmer and the bass aren’t biting, at least not for most of the first-round leaders here in the FLW College Fishing Kentucky Lake Open. As the second and final day of competition unfolds, the leaders are struggling to maintain their positions. READ MORE »

March 21, 2015

Missouri Anglers Lead College Open

Andrew Nordbye and Adam Almohtadi of Northwest Missouri State University of Maryville, Mo., took the lead in the opening round of the FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake with 25 pounds, 2 ounces. Heading into Saturday’s second and final round, the University of Kentucky’s Ryan Collins and Hunter Fulcher sit in second place with 22-14, while Ethan Flack and Konnor Kennedy of the University of Alabama are currently third with 22-9. Details to follow. READ MORE »

March 21, 2015

Day 1 Patterns from the College Open

The Northwest Missouri State University team of Andrew Nordbye and Adam Almontadi took the day-one lead in the FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake. While their pattern seems to be effectively refined – they were using only one lure and had no others out on the deck – Nordbye and Almontadi don’t have this one sewed up yet. The rest of the top five is just a few pounds behind the leaders.
Here’s how they made it into contention going into the final day. READ MORE »

March 20, 2015

College Open Day 1 Midday Update

“You should have been here yesterday” might have been the motto for the first day of fishing in the FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake. Though many of the 194 teams entered in the two-day event out of Moor’s Resort & Marina reported good to excellent practices, many of the same anglers were complaining about a lack of fish on opening morning of the competition. READ MORE »

March 20, 2015

Record Catch for Record College Field?

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Panama City, beach parties, Florida sunshine, bikini weather – big deal. Who needs Spring Break when you’ve got Kentucky Lake in March?
OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but how else to explain why a record-setting number of teams showed up for the FLW College Fishing Open tournament here? The official tally of bass fishing teams is 201, according to College Fishing Tournament Director Kevin Hunt, making this the largest collegiate fishing event ever. Teams from every corner of the country are represented here, with squads from as far away as Eastern Washington University competing the next two days. A flotilla left Moor’s Resort & Marina this morning, with individual boats scattering in all directions. READ MORE »

March 18, 2015

College Open will be a Record-Setter

When the first FLW College Fishing Open tournament gets underway out of Moor’s Resort on Kentucky Lake Friday morning, it will make history as the largest college event ever staged. Typically, college tournaments are staged as divisional events where only teams from a particular geographical region can participate, but the Open marks the first time any eligible college team can compete. The response to the new format has been overwhelming.
According to FLW College Fishing Tournament Director Kevin Hunt, 184 teams representing colleges and universities from coast to coast are entered (as of this morning), and more might be en route. Teams have until Thursday evening at 6 to register at the rules meeting. READ MORE »

March 18, 2015

Expect Change and Adapt to It

Ish Monroe explains how to adapt to changing conditions and recommends to always fish your strengths in this weeks blog. READ MORE »

March 17, 2015

So You Want to be a Co-Angler?

First and foremost, I know I’m fishing the tournament as a co-angler and I make sure that I not only stay out of my pro’s way, but I do what I can to assist him throughout the day. This starts at the ramp with assisting him with the launch where possible. READ MORE »

March 16, 2015

Tour Newcomers: Andrew Young

If you look at Young’s track record in the Angler Profiles of FLWFishing.com, there’s not much there. The only FLW tournament he’s fished is the Tour opener on Lake Toho, where he finished 102nd. Prior to that, Young hadn’t fished so much as a Walmart Bass Fishing League event, but that doesn’t mean he lacks talent or savvy. READ MORE »

March 16, 2015

A 30-Piece Puzzle with Four Pieces Missing

The whole time I was down in Florida during the FLW Tour opener on Lake Toho I felt like I was trying to put together a 30-piece puzzle with four pieces missing. The weather was right, the water temperature was right, the thousands of acres of vegetation looked right, but one thing was wrong: the fish! READ MORE »

March 12, 2015

A Clean Slate

The 2015 season opener of the Walmart FLW Tour wasn’t at Okeechobee, as in recent years, but at Lake Toho in central Florida. I was excited about the change, and even more pumped to start a fresh new season after blowing my motor on day one of the first event last year. READ MORE »

March 11, 2015

Lake Toho Storylines

The Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Mercury on Lake Toho provided the 20th-anniversary season a proper sendoff. It was emblematic of the seasons that came before and had all of the hallmarks that FLW fishing fans have come to expect. A couple of strong 11th-hour charges for the title, environmental challenges in the form of dramatic weather and water changes, and a nail-biting finish were befitting of two decades of the Tour.
We wanted to break down a few of the more subtle storylines as well, in order to put this season’s opener into perspective. Here goes. READ MORE »

March 7, 2015

A Morning with the Leader

Sullen gray skies and a gusting northeast wind contrast with the weather on opening day of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Mercury here on Lake Toho. JT Kenney jumped out to the lead with a solid stringer of almost 30 pounds on Thursday, but Saturday is altogether different, and expectations match the weather.
No pattern is weatherproof, including Kenney’s, but at least he knows that neither is anyone else’s. The brisk northeast wind is scooting his boat along at a fairly fast clip, and he’s fishing a spinnerbait that helicopters with every cast. To this point, the spinnerbait hasn’t attracted more than a small pickerel and two small bass in the first hour of the semi-final round. Still, the veteran pro has been here before, and knows what a change of weather will do to Florida bass. Gradually, the wind will lay and the day will grow warmer. Kenney is saving his better spots for then.
READ MORE »

March 7, 2015

Randles Takes Co-angler Crown

The whole premise behind being a successful co-angler is to fish the spots that the guy in the front of the boat hasn’t already hit. Here on Lake Toho and connected lakes – with their miles of lily pad fields and vast mats of various types of aquatic vegetation – finding such targets of opportunity is never a problem, though some co-anglers are better than others at mining the ones that actually have bass in them.
Chad Randles of Elkhorn, Neb., proved he had what it takes to pry bass out of their Toho cubby holes as he won the co-angler title here in the Walmart FLW Tour season-opener presented by Mercury. Randles weighed in a pair of limits over two days that totaled 29 pounds, 15 ounces. Mark Holman of Cornelius, N.C., was second with 27-11, while John Hunter of Shelbyville, Ky., placed third with 27-7. READ MORE »

March 5, 2015

Boom or Bust at Toho

To varying degrees of success, tournament anglers are used to figuring out lakes that seemingly are a bundle of contradictions. Be that as it may, Lake Toho threatens to boggle their collective minds as the 2015 Walmart FLW Tour kickoff event presented by Mercury gets underway this morning. READ MORE »

February 27, 2015

Toho Bound

You have to understand that having home field advantage in fishing is the absolute worst. There are so many demons; you have too much information, you start fishing the lake’s history – it goes on and on and it’s very hard for a professional angler to mentally break that barrier. READ MORE »

February 25, 2015

Tour Newcomers: Capt. Blake Smith

Capt. Blake Smith, who’s signed on to fish the Walmart FLW Tour this year, will tell you that he’s a “true rookie” when it comes to big-time bass tournaments, which is true. However, he’s no newcomer to competitive fishing. READ MORE »